Beer #93 - Wells / Banana Bread Beer

BREWERY // Charles Wells was born in Bedford in 1842. At age 14 he ran away to sea joining a frigate bound for India. A decade later the young Charles (by now a Naval Chief Officer) fell in love with Josephine. His prospective father-in-law would not agree for his daughter to marry a man who would be away at sea for months at a time. Wisely predicting that there would always be a demand for beer, Charles left his seafaring career and established the Charles Wells Family Brewery to make beer for the local Bedfordshire populace. Today the company is still in family hands with the 5th generation working in different areas. Charles Wells Pub Co. has over 200 pubs and the company owns various beer brands including Young's, Courage and McEwan's.

TASTING NOTES // A strong banana flavour is not completely out of place in a beer. For many centuries Bavarian wheat beers have been brewed using yeast that creates Isoamyl acetate which has a strong banana-like flavours. It is funny to think of 19th century Germans trying a banana for the first time and remarking on how much it tastes like Hefeweizen. Head brewer Karl Ottomar explains the addition of fair trade bananas to this beer: “The idea of Banana Bread Beer initially came about as a suggestion from the wife of one of the Charles Wells team – who was a keen banana bread baker. Research also suggested that bananas were one of the bestselling line items in supermarkets – which provided a basis to test if this could in fact be a popular flavour for beer.”. There is something very English about this beer- it stands alone and comes from a time before craft brewers were throwing chocolate, grapefruit or coffee into every second beer they brew. It's a bit strange and perhaps slightly naff but above all it is absolutely delicious.